Former Senior Special Assistant (SSA) on Media and Publicity to President Muhammadu Buhari, Malam Garba Shehu, has dismissed speculations claiming that he betrayed his former principal, ex-Vice President Atiku Abubakar, when he chose to serve in the cabinet of erstwhile President Muhammadu Buhari.
He stated this on Tuesday in Abuja at a media interface to unveil his memoir, “According to the President: Lessons from a Presidential Spokesperson’s Experience”, slated for public presentation on July 9.
He insisted that he never ditched Atiku for Buhari.
Shehu explained that all those who contested with Buhari for the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential ticket in 2014 donated their campaign assets to Buhari after he won the primary election.
The former president of the Nigeria Guild of Editors (NGE) explained it was on that basis that Buhari appointed him the spokesperson of the presidential campaign council and thereafter went on to appoint him as his spokesperson when he won in the general election.
Meanwhile, Special Assistant on Public Communication to former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, Phrank Shaibu, has dismissed President Bola Tinubu‘s statement that the opposition coalition is ‘political IDPs’.
Naijaonpoint reports that Shaibu, in a statement issued on Tuesday, said Atiku and other former Governors, Peter Obi, Rotimi Amaechi, and Nasir El-Rufai, are coming together with a common goal of rescuing Nigeria.
He said, “They are political refugees only in form, not in influence. If anything, they have gained strength in exile. From Atiku to Obi, from Amaechi to el-Rufai, they are uniting not just to win, but to rescue.”
Shaibu also described President Tinubu’s administration as a group of urban bandits who gained power through manipulation rather than merit.
According to him, the All Progressives Congress (APC) will lose the 2027 presidential election due to rising hunger and economic hardship, stressing that Nigerians are already bearing the cost of poor governance and will reject the ruling party at the polls.
He said, “No amount of propaganda can cover hunger. No PR can spin poverty. Fuel is unaffordable, the naira has collapsed, and food prices have become a daily affliction.”
Shaibu noted that the youth, especially those left disappointed by the 2023 election outcome, would be more strategic in 2027, and that the opposition would emerge victorious in 2027.
He added, “The Urban Bandits may have mocked their hashtags, but they will soon learn that hashtags grow into hurricanes.”